Elected Officials Sworn In
Monday, January 13th, the Adams County Commissioners met for the first meeting of the new year. Commissioner Daren Ward was not present. First on the agenda, the newly elected officials went over to the Courthouse to swear in for the new term. District 1 Commissioner, Joe Iveson, District 3 Commissioner, Viki Purdy, Sheriff Ryan Zollman, and the new County Prosecuting Attorney, Peter Donovan all swore their oaths of office in front of witnesses and relatives, and a notary at the courthouse.
After swearing in, everyone moved back to the commissioners room. County Building Inspector, Kody Williams arrived and said the drywall should be done today at the Exhibit Hall. Next they will be painting, and putting in new lights. Williams had one bid for the lights, which would be switching over to LED. The exhibit hall should be finished in a couple of weeks.
Next, the commissioners handled some routine business. They approved liquor licenses for Waypoint and Sprockets. They also briefly discussed some problems with the Forest Service. Commissioner Iveson said he’s been trying to meet up with the new Forest Supervisor for two months. Then the commissioners went into Board of Equalization and equalized missed role, and missed role occupancies. They also approved tax cancellations totaling $2,537.84.
Steve Shelton, with Solid Waste, said the forklift is on order. Rotator is 10+ weeks out, and the transmission is out on the old Chevy Pickup. The open positions were being advertised in the paper.
Adam Balderson, with Road and Bridge, said all was good and there wasn’t much snow. He asked the commissioners what they thought about putting a camera in Bear to monitor snow depth, like the ones on Fort Hall Hill and Little Ski Hill. Commissioner Iveson said it would be handy to have and to bring them some pricing. County Clerk, Sherry Ward, said she would be arranging a safety meeting with the State Insurance Fund soon.
Sheriff Ryan Zollman said there are 21 state inmates and 3 county. Sherry Ward said they would be interviewing one applicant for I.T. on the 27th. They then started discussing Council Computers, who currently is doing the I.T. service for the county. Zollman said “I couldn’t be happier with the service we’re getting.” Zollman said he does want to make a decision soon about if they are short term or long term because there are certain things that he hasn’t been having them do until he knows if they are permanent.
Meredith Fisher, with Planning and Zoning, said the winter slow down finally hit so she is reorganizing records and said now would be a good time to look at ordinances if there were some the commissioners were thinking of changing. One thing they were thinking of revisiting was the 80 ft setback from centerline of right of way. Utility easements might be an issue with adjusting it. Fisher suggested some language that might help.
Next there was a public hearing for a vacation of a portion of the Walker Subdivision. Seven residents and the applicant, Conley Walker doing business as Idaho Anchor LLC, were present to support the vacation. Meredith Fisher read the staff report for the commissioner. The application would allow the applicant to vacate a portion of several lots while adjusting them to leave two, five acre lots remaining in the subdivision. All of the verifications and surveys needed have been obtained. There was written comment received in support.
Conley Walker said this was the happy medium they came up with. All of the irrigated land was mandated in the beginning as a no build zone. He said from their point of view it was important to keep as much of the land AG ground as they could. “It’s important to preserve what AG ground we have.” The portion that is vacated is all irrigated AG ground and will not be buildable. The fire suppression pond will be conveyed to the HOA so there are no questions as to easement rights. They already maintain it. The CCRs will be updated to reflect the new boundaries of the subdivision.
One resident who was present said, “I think Conley sets the bar extremely high for being a neighbor… and all these adjustments, I think it’s just great.” Another resident agreed, saying “cows make the best neighbors!” All of the people present were in support. The commissioners approved the request with no conditions.
The last item on the agenda was a discussion with the City of Council regarding sorting and dumping fees for the building at 202 Illinois Ave that burned last year. City Clerk, Ashley Scott, Public Works Supervisor, Caleb Shumway, and Council member David Tubridy were present. Shumway said that neither the building owner nor the tenant had insurance, and the owner has no funds to clean up the debris. The city is interested in cleaning it up for public safety. The bids they have received so far are in excess of $100,000 and there is asbestos in the debris as well. The City wanted to ask the County if they could have the dump fees waived or if there was a place they could dump it all without sorting it. Steve Shelton, with Solid Waste, was concerned about the volume, and said they cannot leave it unsorted per DEQ. If they weren’t going to sort it someone from the county would have too, and they don’t have anyone. The commissioners were agreeable to waiving the dump fees however, and said they were happy to do that for another taxing entity. Shumway said that would be a big help. So did Scott. “That will help tremendously” she said. Scott said they will be placing a lien and most likely will take over the property. The city currently has no plans for the lot and will leave it as a parking lot for the time being.
